The Transfer Tavern

Newcastle United should be making tracks to land Modeste in January

Newcastle have taken just a single point from their opening three Premier League games.

Rafael Benitez was not given the transfer funds to strengthen his squad during the summer transfer window, and the Magpies are now paying the price. Granted, their two defeats have come against Tottenham and Chelsea. Nonetheless, Benitez would have expected to beat Cardiff away from home. The Spaniard will be hoping to pick up their first win of the season against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup.

The former Liverpool boss was desperate to bolster his forward line this summer after the club sold Aleksandar Mitrovic to Fulham. The Magpies opted to sign Salomon Rondon on loan from West Brom, but the target-man has looked short of fitness after a poor pre-season with the Baggies. He is yet to score for his new club and will be expected to find the back of the net regularly when he is up to speed.

The transfer window may be closed, but Newcastle could still add to their goal scoring ranks by signing Anthony Modeste. Valued at £14.4m by Transfermarkt, the 30-year-old joined Chinese Super League side, Tianjin Quanjian, for £26m this summer after spending a year on loan from Cologne. However, reports in Germany have suggested that Modeste has cancelled his contract at the club over unpaid wages and could be available on a free transfer.

The French forward was a regular scorer in the Bundesliga, hitting 25 goals in the 2016/17 season continuing his form from his debut season with Cologne where he found the back of the net 15 times. As well as being an excellent goal scorer, Modeste is a huge aerial threat – winning 5.7 aerial duels in his final season in Germany (WhoScored) and would provide Newcastle with another quality option up top.

If he is available on free, Newcastle could pick up the bargain of the summer.